As the 2026 “Litigation Department of the Year” for general litigation, Riker Danzig was featured in the New Jersey Law Journal’s Q&A article, highlighting the Firm’s litigation achievements in 2025. Managing Partner Michael P. O’Mullan prepared the answers for the article.
Asked about the department’s long-term adaptations, Mike noted that the Firm’s litigation practice has changed how it manages matters through targeted technology adoption. The Firm has integrated generative AI into document review, deposition preparation and legal research, governed by a written Firm policy. Client data remains within secured environments, and an attorney reviews and verifies all AI-assisted work product. “When a task takes less time, our clients pay for less time,” he said.
Mike noted that success in today’s market requires three things: letting the efficiencies created by technology flow through to clients; meeting clients on their own terms, including outside counsel guidelines that now address AI use, data security and reporting; and recognizing that as routine tasks become faster and less expensive, experienced judgment becomes more valuable.
On rate pressure, he explained that “most billing friction comes from surprises rather than from the fees themselves,” so the Firm keeps clients informed as matters develop. On talent, Mike highlighted the Firm’s collaborative culture, where associates work across practice groups, take on substantive responsibility early, and build core skills through supervised drafting, structured mentoring, and deposition and courtroom opportunities. That culture is reflected in how many of the Firm’s current attorneys began as summer associates.
The article referenced some of the Firm’s notable matters, including:
- securing the dismissal with prejudice of a putative class action against client Dun & Bradstreet in federal court in New Jersey, a case involving cutting-edge First Amendment theories and potential statutory damages of $2,500 to $10,000 per class member, which bucked a national trend of similar right-of-publicity claims surviving motions to dismiss; and
- prevailing before the New Jersey Supreme Court, which affirmed the Firm’s Appellate Division victory in a complex remediation dispute between the current and prior owners of a contaminated property, at the intersection of environmental law and constitutional due process.
Please go to NJLJ for the full Q&A.
See Awards and Honors Methodology. No aspect of this announcement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
